All Around Me
by Mistress of the Arts
Summary: Johnny always hated Valentine's Day, and who could blame him after being alone for so long? Envy, loneliness, and pain become intimately familiar on this romantic day. However, Johnny never expected to find another lonely heart who felt the same. JohnnyOC


**A/N: Just a simple oneshot for the holiday in which I despise so greatly ^^ It appears Johnny agrees with me XD Please review; no flames.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.**

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Oh how he loathed this day.

He never did understand the real purpose behind the day of romance, Valentine's Day. In all honesty all it did for the past few years was make him sick, rolling his eyes at the lame overly used gifts of roses and chocolates, especially since he had witnessed Enrique using the same gifts every year but with a different girl. He had dread the approach of this horrid holiday since the moment they entered February.

"Johnny, do you have a valentine this year?"

Johnny felt his left eye twitch as he was asked this particular question for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. Mariah blinked innocently, head cocked to the side as she waited the redhead's response. He crossed his arms over his chest and quickly looked away bitterly.

"No, Mariah, I don't." 

Mariah bit her lip, feeling slightly guilty and along with pity for the boy, before she reached out to touch the top of his head for a brief moment. Johnny ignored the Chinese girl, trying his hardest not to pay attention to the romance stirring around the room. Lavender eyes glanced around, noticing that Mariah had tackled Ray and planted a kiss on his cheek lovingly.

_Okay, why did I seriously let Oliver con me into this damn thing?_

The Valentine's Day party thrown by the BBA association was the last place he wanted to be, especially in such a mood. His temper was slowly rising, his mood bitter, and loneliness was eating at him and at his blackening heart. He was sick of being alone, and the more he looked around the room and took in the sight of the happy couples that were his friends, the more he felt sick with envy.

Tyson and Hilary caught his attention first. Who knew that all along Tyson had a crush on his own cheerleader? Apparently everyone else, because once Tyson had asked Hilary to be his valentine and she had kissed him in front of everyone, everyone simply cheered it was about time.

His eyes continued to look around the room, and he crossed his leg as he sat in the dark corner, wishing that Oliver hadn't made sure to block all the exits in case he tried to run. He glanced over at the White Tigers, chewing on his bottom lip in shock as he tried to contain his emotions.

Hell, even that monkey-child Kevin had a girlfriend. She was apparently from their village or something. He watched as the purple-haired girl, Ling, pressed her lips to Kevin's in a brief and sweet kiss before he looked away in disgust, wanting to gag.

The next thing he saw made him chuckle, as the mysterious Mystel came out of no where, grabbed Mariah's brother Lee, and planted a kiss on him. Lee had blushed and started chasing the blond, who was laughing and evading him. As much as Johnny didn't want to admit it, those two were definitely couple material.

Johnny found it was getting harder to sit still, to see the love all around him, and not feel the envy and the pain of true loneliness hit him. He despised Valentine's Day, but that didn't stop the aching or the longing for someone special in his life. This day was basically Single Awareness day, as Max had put it.

Yeah, until he saw Mariam again and ended up sweeping her off her feet, both of them unable to deny the strong feelings they harbored for one another any longer. The shocking thing was the other Saint Shields approved of Max, which was entirely shocking for Ozuma and even Joseph.

"He-ey, Johnny!"

Johnny sweatdropped and ground his teeth in irritancy as a particular blond threw his arm around his shoulders.

"Hi, Michael," Johnny growled in pure annoyance.

Michael had this dopey and egotistical grin on his face that made the redhead want to put his hands around his neck and throttle him.

"So how many fangirls sent you cards?" Michael asked before he continued, not even waiting for an answer. "I got tons! Just ask Rick or Eddy, the mailbox was filled all the way to the top and was overstuffed!" 

Rick, who happened to be walking by, snorted and said. "You only got one… and it was from your cousin."

Michael cringed and turned stark white, before sending a murderous glare at Rick's retreating back. The captain of the All Stars had joined the other stoic and not-caring ones in the corner, consisting of Kai, Tala, Bryan, Spencer, Garland, Ozuma, and his own captain, Robert. They had all pulled out chairs and some where talking about prior Beybattles, tension rising as future challenges was made.

"Your own cousin, eh?" Johnny smirked.

Well, it made him feel a little better.

Michael was blushing as he hissed, "No!"

The Scot rolled his eyes, before they looked and saw Emily approaching. Michael gave a small groan and a face palm, getting ready to listen to her rant about Max and Mariam, but he simply got a tap on the shoulder. The dirty blond haired boy glanced up with his visible blue eye and was surprised to see Emily blushing and fidgeting nervously.

"Um, Michael?"

He stared at her, "What?" 

Emily's blush worsened as she snapped, "Don't use that tone with me! I'm trying… I'm trying to give you something." 

Johnny wanted to outwardly groan, or at least hop his chair over far enough so he wouldn't have to watch the awkward moment that happened to be occurring only a foot away. He kept his mouth shut, however. Emily was scary when angered, especially if she got her hands on a baseball bat.

"Y-You are?" Michael's eye narrowed, "Why?"

Emily glared at him before shoving a card and a box in his hands, "Be a jerk! I don't care! It's not like you'd want to be my valentine anyway!"

The orange-haired bookworm went to storm away after giving Michael a swift kick in the leg, but the blond managed to hop to his foot, and grasp her shoulder. Emily whirled around, sniffling, and her eyes wide in rage.

"Em, don't… I want you to be my valentine, too."

Emily blinked, "Huh? Really?"

Michael hoppled over to her, slowly reaching up to remove her glasses, resulting in Emily to blush hotly, especially as Michael leaned down and kissed her for a minute.

And thus Johnny felt the undying impulse to start clawing out his eyes…

"Aw, look at Matilda and Miguel!" he heard Hilary gush from a few feet away.

He didn't want to, but it was hard not to notice Miguel giving Matilda the most passionate kiss in the room. It was, at least until Enrique grabbed one of the two reporters standing near the doors, kissing her blind. The room burst into a chorus of woots for the Italian blond.

Johnny shook his head, feeling for that reporter, and knowing immediately how this was going to turn out. Enrique was a sweet guy but he went through girls like there wasn't any tomorrow. The two reporters had asked Mr. Dickinson personally if they could write an article on the party for their high school newspaper, and now one was going to end up with a broken heart.

Johnny glanced over at the other reporter, noticing she had her nose scrunched up as she made a face at his suave teammate practically making out with her friend. She gave a sigh and an eye roll before storming away from the couple. His lavender eyes followed her as she stormed across the room over to the punch table, turning her back, and staring bitterly into the punch.

It only took him a split second to recognize her, having bumped into her many times over the past month since the tournament started. She had been shy as she asked to take his picture at the preliminary rounds, but she had also been down to earth and very sweet, and hadn't tried to do anything freaky like some of the fangirls he had encountered in the past.

He found himself standing up, brushing his way through the dancers that were his fellow friends and rivals, and he was almost to the refreshment table when a familiar green-haired boy snagged his arm.

"Where are you going, Johnny?" Oliver asked sweetly, blinking his amethyst eyes up at the redhead.

Johnny glanced down at the French boy, "I was going to go and talk to Alice." 

Oliver's eyes sparkled upon hearing this, "Okay!" he sang before he returned to speaking to Kenny.

Johnny turned to start heading for his previous destination only to find Alice gone. A twinge of irritancy hit him as he recognized the song playing. It was an annoying love song that made him want to take off.

In fact, he did. He couldn't handle it anymore. Why should he have to suffer any longer?

It was like they were rubbing it in his face he was alone…

That he wasn't special to someone on that kind of level.

Sure, his friends loved him and did everything to make him smile, but it wasn't the same. It could never be the same. He just wanted to be able to have someone say they cared about him, to help him up when he was knocked down.

He just wanted someone to love…

Johnny's fist slammed the door he so desperately tried to open, but the doors had been locked to keep paparazzi and fangirls from entering. Growling, he looked around, just wanting somewhere to go in order to escape, even if for a little bit. He finally noticed the group of tables in the far corner, oblivious to the world. He didn't think about it, he just did it.

Ducking under the table, Johnny lowered the table cloth once making sure no one had seen his little disappearing act. He gave a sigh of relief, just sitting cross-legged, and resting his cheek against his fist, his arm propped up on his thigh. He closed his eyes and listened carefully, making sure no one was calling for him.

_Sniff… sniff…_

Johnny froze and realized he wasn't as alone as he had thought. Turning, he saw a brunette with shoulder-length brown hair, crying softly. He recognized her immediately, and felt a strange twinge of pain in his chest.

"Alice, you okay?" 

Alice jolted and squeaked, looking at Johnny with teary gray-green eyes, before she looked away and tried hiding her tears from him. The redhead sighed and crawled closer underneath the table, his hand reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"I hate this day!" Alice hissed through her tears. "It's so stupid!"

Johnny felt his lips form a smile, "At least someone agrees with me…"

Alice wiped her eyes, "I can't believe Enrique would kiss Serena like that. He doesn't really like her…" 

"It's Enrique," Johnny said quietly before he took a deep sigh. "S'not the only thing buggin' ya, huh?"

She lowered her eyes to her lap, "No…"

He leaned back and started inspecting the gum underneath the table, "Wanna talk about it?" 

Alice hugged herself, "I'm… sick of being alone." 

"Same,"

"My friends are so supportive yet… I'm the only one without someone special. It makes me wonder what's wrong with me."

Johnny immediately looked at her, "Alice, there is _nothing_ wrong with you." he said fiercely.

"Feels like it…"

"Don't… don't feel that way." Johnny swallowed hard.

Suddenly he found it hard to speak.

His thoughts had become incoherent.

He knew exactly what to tell her, the one thing he had known for a bit now, but he had been under the impression that Alice was taken. He didn't know how to voice what his heart was clearly saying.

"What happened to Darin?"

Alice made a face, "Dude, Darin's my best friend and like my big brother." 

Johnny felt relief course through him, "Oh… you always talked about him, so I just assumed he was your guy or somethin'."

"Uh, okay, ew." Alice laughed.

Johnny grinned, "Hey, I made ya laugh!"

She was smiling now, "So you did…"

A blush sprouted across both their faces as they realized how close they were sitting. Their faces were only inches apart, and Johnny suddenly felt Alice cover his hand with her own. He couldn't deny the electric thrill that went through him the moment her hand touched his.

"Wanna ditch this place?"

"Thought you'd never ask,"

Alice went to move to crawl out from under the table, but Johnny grabbed her arm, stopping her. She glanced at him, blushing still, gray-green eyes staring into lavender. In that one instant, Johnny threw away all logic, and went with his impulses.

He was going to throw away desperation.

Alice squeaked and blushed as Johnny pulled her back, slowly covering her lips with his own in a kiss. She closed her eyes a moment later, kissing him back timidly. She was confused yet happy that Johnny was kissing her.

Hell, she had been crushing on him for who knows how long.

"Let's not be cliché," Johnny whispered as he pulled away.

Alice gave a nod, "So… arcade games on me?"

Johnny grinned, "And how 'bout a round of miniature golf?"

"You know it!" she pulled out the card key Mr. Dickinson had given her. "And look, I happen to hold the key to our freedom!"

Johnny grinned wildly before they scrambled out from under the table, and took off for the doors. No one tried to stop them, Oliver stopping the moment he saw Johnny smiling, really smiling for the first time in two weeks. A smile crossed the artist's face as the brunette and the redhead disappeared out the door.

Johnny inhaled the cold Februrary air, feeling ten times better and way more alive than he had all night. Alice was walking beside him, hugging her jacket to her. She blinked rapidly as he reached over, taking her hand, and giving it a small squeeze.

"Thank you,"

"For what, Johnny?"

"Giving me a buddy to hate Valentine's Day with."

"Anytime," Alice smiled.

Johnny bit his bottom lip as they walked down the cold street, "How 'bout next year we hang out together and throw an Anti-Valentine's Day party for just the two of us?"

Alice felt herself blush hotly, "I'd like that…" she whispered.

He couldn't help but hum a few bars from a song he had heard the other day. "'I can feel you all around me, thickening the air I'm breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, savoring this heart that's healing…'"

"Johnny, what time is it?"

He paused and glanced at his watch, "Little after midnight, why?"

Alice bit her lip, "It's not Valentine's Day anymore." 

"Huh," the redhead grinned and leaned in close. "You're right…"

Johnny cupped her face in his hands, watching as her eyes closed partway, and he smiled as the snow fell around them and sparkled like little diamonds in the light of the lamppost.

"Guess this means we're not being cliché, huh?" he whispered softly.

"No… we're not." she could barely breathe at his closeness.

Johnny didn't hesitate and kissed Alice, this time longer and with more feeling. Her lips were warm and tasted like black cherries from her lip gloss, and he snaked his arms around her waist until she was pressed against him tightly.

Protectively.

They pulled back a few seconds later, Alice averting her eyes.

"Does this mean we're not alone anymore?"

"Are you kidding?" Johnny picked her up and embraced her as tightly as he could. "It means we'll never be alone again."

Alice smiled and closed her eyes, never wanting to let go, and to always feel Johnny all around her.

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**ETP: There. Corny, anti-valentine's day fluff! Review please!**

**Musical Inspiration: All Around Me – David Crowder Band/Flyleaf (either version works but I like the DCB one)**


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